Tuesday Open Thread
Interesting story on NBC last night about one of the members of Cheap Trick and his use of music to help his autistic son. He's started a group called Rock Your Speech. Also from STAT, this story, Is the dramatic rise in autism tapering off?
A very sobering report on the suicide rate from the New York Times.
Sally C. Curtin, M.A., Margaret Warner, Ph.D., and Holly Hedegaard, M.D., M.S.P.H.:
Congrats to all these hardworking students and staff for their efforts!
What's on your mind?
CDC officials found that 1 in every 68 children in the country has an autism spectrum disorder, a rate unchanged from the last CDC survey two years ago.Here's yet another great story about the move to bring back more CTE (Career and Technical Education). The Tri-City Herald reports that the Kennewick School District's Tri-Tech Skills Center students built two "tiny" houses that will be put up for sale along with all other district surplus items.
And while the new findings may help counter claims that half of all children in the United States will be autistic within a decade, it’s too soon to say whether the rate has reached a plateau, CDC officials cautioned.
Two tiny homes built by students at the Tri-Tech Skills Center will be sold by sealed bid after being declared surplus by the Kennewick School District. The students have been involved in all the construction, from roofing and plumbing to cabinetry and refrigeration installation.
The construction trades class is also working on two full-size homes with Habitat for Humanity.Facebook and your child. This blog post by parent Dave Carroll is recommended reading. (Again, yes, I know that some believe privacy is dead but every single parents has some line they do not want crossed for their own child.)
A very sobering report on the suicide rate from the New York Times.
Suicide in the United States has surged to the highest levels in nearly 30 years, a federal data analysis has found, with increases in every age group except older adults.
Researchers also found an alarming increase among girls 10 to 14, whose suicide rate, while still very low, had tripled. The number of girls who killed themselves rose to 150 in 2014 from 50 in 1999. “This one certainly jumped out,” said Sally Curtin, a statistician at the center and an author of the report.
“This is part of the larger emerging pattern of evidence of the links between poverty, hopelessness and health,” said Robert D. Putnam, a professor of public policy at Harvard and the author of “Our Kids,” an investigation of new class divisions in America.From the study referenced in the article, Increase in Suicide in the United States, 1999–2014, by
Sally C. Curtin, M.A., Margaret Warner, Ph.D., and Holly Hedegaard, M.D., M.S.P.H.:
While suicide among adolescents and young adults is increasing and among the leading causes of death for those demographic groups (4), suicide among middle-aged adults is also rising (5).On a more up note, here's the report from SPS on the 2015-2016 Conservation Champions. There are 25 schools profiled in the report. The efforts range from lunchroom recycling at many schools to installation of a solar panel array on the roof of Blaine to Chief Sealth's advocacy for water bottle filling stations in schools, to a beautiful mural at John Rogers made of salvaged materials, to advocacy from kids at Maple Elementary to clean up the Duwamish River, to Nathan Hale's Climate Justice Club, to Pathfinder K-8s extensive efforts throughout the school year, to the Taste of TOPS Celebration.
Join the conversation, share your stories, photos and videos on social media using the hashtag
#SPSGoingGreener
or email the conservation team at SPSGoingGreener@seattleschools.org
What's on your mind?
Comments
- Planning ahead
Sped disappointed
What is the point of attending meetings where SPS staff ask all of us to drink the phony compliance cool-aid?
SPED DEAD
I think the preliminary calendar did make it to the Board; I'll see if it's on the agenda for the next meeting for approval.
Momof2
HP
My daughter is currently a 9th graders in private HS, but it's not been a good fit for her.
She's interested in the arts component and likes that the Center School is small.
We toured Garfield, but she felt overwhelmed by the size.
Interested
S parent
Singer's mom
It is past time for these issues to be addressed in a systemic fashion.
Sped disappointed
(a) Federal, state, and local government organization and procedures;
(b) Rights and responsibilities of citizens addressed in the Washington state and United States
Constitutions;
(c) Current issues addressed at each level of government; and
(d) Electoral issues, including elections, ballot measures, initiatives, and referenda.
I hope people will go to their high schools and ask how that semester class is being taught.
Catherine
Sara Pritchard kept giving the same answer that her hands were tied because of contracts and it could take years to remove a bad principal.
Why is it so difficult to remove an incompetent principal?
Notbuyingit
Think Ingraham. Think QAE.
Then there are the principals that aren't unpopular downtown but have been called out by majority parents or teachers at a site as unfit for a school or simply inept. Those people are disappeared into JSCEE to a paid desk job or transferred to an unsuspecting new school. It's unseemly but it takes care of the immediate problem from the downtown viewpoint.
What Pritchard is saying is either she hasn't done the paperwork HERSELF to deal with the Stevens situation or there's no will downtown to take the problem on and relieve the school community. Or Pritchard is acknowledging that SPS has screwed up as usual and the problems at Stevens are JSCEE's fault. So sorry kids, live with the consequences.
Do I sound cynical? Hey I've been around a decade's worth of blocks.
DistrictWatcher
Give us a list of student benefits of these positions or cut the $1 million+ drain on the budget.
DistrictWatcher
She kept saying that she can't remove a principal who is incompetent only evaluate that person. So my kids have to suffer because of policy and procedure. What does it take a mass protest by the kids. Oh we did that last Friday. This situation is gross.
Second, it has been absolutely true in the past that if there are strong issues with a principal, an ED can have quite a bit of leeway, in moving a principal out of the building. A few years ago, the TOPS community worked with ED Phil Brockman to move their principal out of the building. (After which she managed to do some fairly questionable stuff in another building.)
Third, Pritchett was heavily involved in the firing of Garfield Choir Director Carol Burton, and we can now all see what a fiasco that has turned out to be.
Adding in Pritchett's controversial tenure as a McClure middle school teacher, her haughty "talk to the hand" attitude... One can draw one's own conclusions about whether Pritchett should continue to be employed by the District.
Seeing the Obvious Problem
The next step is the Ombudsman. In the meantime, the community can take action.
One type of community action would be a walk-out. The families take their kids out of the school for a day and do fun and interesting lessons in the park across the street. Math, science, reading, writing, civics, P.E., and art. The weather is good; shouldn't be a problem.
Another community action would be for a lot of Stevens community members to sign up to testify at a school board meeting. Remember that testimony about personnel is not allowed, so the testimony would have to be about the terms of the principal's collective bargaining agreement and whether or not the District has the authority to remove a principal from a school. The testimony can also be about the District's commitment to openness, honesty, transparency, and responsiveness. Refer to the Strategic Plan and the Core Beliefs that appear at the beginning of it. One of those Core Beliefs is "A high performing district includes effective leadership, accountability, effective organizational systems and an engaged community". You can ask them "Is this what accountability looks like? Is this what effective leadership looks like? Is this how you engage the community?"
In the meantime, a standardized test boycott would be a great choice as an action. Not only because the district really, really hates them, but also because test scores can result in a bonus for principals.
On that topic, the community should DEFINITELY complete the school survey and give their honest view of the school's leadership. Read the CBA on the other elements that determine the principal's bonus and sandbag them.
Require the Superintendent to engage his Hot Topics Response protocol and the other promised elements from his "100-Day Plan for Customer Service". For example, he was supposed to "develop and implement a plan for creating a Listening Organization". Who's listening?
Finally, it's time to put some heat on the Executive Director and start questioning her job performance. Contact her boss with your complaints about her failure to take effective action, failure to address the school's downward spiral, and her failure to deal openly and honestly with the community. Holding the meeting doesn't earn her any points if she doesn't authentically engage people at the meeting.
So ... did this ED fail to do the performance improvement plan? Did she ignore the need to do this? Is she not accountable? Oh, I forgot, she is accountable to head-in-the-sand Tolley. Where is her performance improvement plan? It's really sickening the lack of leadership to help Stevens out of this mess. Kids are being harmed.
Wondering
GHSmom
NEmom
Why are the two SPED directors still employed?
Stevens is basically in a full on mutiny and there's evidence of staff begging for help and the district sending back a big F-U.
Watching waiting
Charlie, the new ombudsperson, Heidi Henderson-Lewis, WAS at the meeting as a kind of facilitator.
In other headlines, Sarah Morris is leaving the Alliance for Education. This after SPS refused to work with the group contractually anymore, in large part based on Morris, apparently. It's taken awhile but the Corp Ed Reform crowd influence continues a downward spiral in SPS. Good.
DistrictWatcher
-HS Parent
A walk-out - be sure to notify the school, the district, and the media in advance - with lessons planned for the day in the park and a lunch provided.
An organized boycott of standardized tests. Again, advise the school, the district, and the media.
An organized effort to respond to the family survey in large numbers (only 27% of families responded last year).
Organize testimony at a Board meeting in which you demand transparency in the hiring, transfer, and dismissal of principals. Demand community engagement in the principal assignment process. Ask why some schools get to have hiring committees to select a principal while other schools read about their new principal in the newspaper. Use the testimony to point out that the principals' collective bargaining agreement does not prevent the district from replacing a principal at any time. There are lots of jobs in the JSCEE that a principal can be assigned to. There are open principal positions at other schools. Demand that executive directors of schools be honest with the communities they serve and not tell lies about the extent of their authority.
Organize an effort to get on the superintendent's calendar. Get an appointment with him and control that meeting. Come in with a clear and succinct agenda. You want clear answers to specific questions: What does it take to get a principal re-assigned? What do you have to do to get action from the Executive Director? When is someone going to "Fly to the Ball"?
http://www.seattleschools.org/cms/one.aspx?pageId=9063286
https://www.seattleschools.org/cms/one.aspx?portalId=627&pageId=16582
http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-2012654/Dyslexic-boy-16-hanged-bullying-teachers-primary-school-years-earlier.html
http://sallyspencerthomas.blogspot.com/2013/04/suicide-risk-and-children-with.html
Reality check
Contemplate:
Would you expect better care of your child with a sitter?
Does your child have enough time to eat each day?
Does your child have daily, dedicated recess not subject to punishments for homework, slow class work, delayed lunch eating, or even class hallway behavior?
Is the main classroom management strategy that the teacher yells at the class all day long?
Is the classroom tone one that you would expect or accept from a private school?
Is your child or their friend/s being bullied? Is your child's ALO/ELL/SPED designation getting them the appropriate challenges and supports?
Is there sexual harassment at the school and do you worry about inappropriate behavior going on and what else your child is learning from their peers?
I call this combination frightening, but some would call the duo "collaborative".
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